Albania: Proposed gay pride march provokes homophobic comments

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Membership of the European Union? Might be a bit tricky that one. Albania needs to get into the 21st Century but with the usual bigots holding it back by the ankles it’s going to be a hard slog. Good luck to the 1st Pride Parade we’re cheering you on.

sorry they have failed the basic test to be a member of the european union. so they are and will always be a poor excommie country, one which we must make sure our tax money does not go to for suport. what we should be doing is making a safe country for all gay people to live in.

You may find that the EU has recently ruled that equality in marriage, for example, is not a universal requirement in EU countries. Aside from decriminalisation of homosexuality, all EU countries (including accession countries) differ VERY much in what protection they offer to gay people. The EU is the best in the world for LGBT rights, but most of it is not an EU requirement.

Catholics and Muslims telling gays not to have a gay pride march saying it violates human rights, what human rights? They have every right have a gay pride march and they need to do it no matter what and get security to protect them. Don’t let the oppressors stop you from going free and really getting equal and human rights for all LGBT people in Albania and the world.

dont know where my post went, but you should not be allowed to ever have children incase you mental sickness infects your children. God made us all and we gay people love him and try todo as he teaches us, sometime that is very hard, it is hard to love and forgive someone like you who is full of hate and bigotry, so please save us having to put up with your kind, take your balls in your left hand and a very sharp knife in your right hand, and cut. maybe you die, but at least we will not have to put up with you and you will not have any children to pass your madness onto.

funny this is the 2nd time I have discover that one of my comments against a homophobe has been left hanging, maybe pink new deleated him, his type make me very angry, all we want is to be treated with respect and dignaty and to have equal rights

A gross sin? Really? I didn’t realise the word gross was around back then. Was that the same time as homosexualitis came about too? N I think you mean the Bible* and with* don’t you? Can’t you just disappear again. Last week was so much more enjoyable on here without you

It’s a good job that The Bible is actually just an old book then isn’t it? Are you so unable to make your own way in life and recognise right from wrong that you need text from the Bronze Age to guide your every step? Are you really that weak?

If so, you’re not much of a person are you? Doesn’t say much for “God” if he made you in his image does it?

Oh good, another crazy Eastern European country resisting any change to move out of the Middle Ages. I suspect this will end the same way as it does in Serbia or Moscow. Those who attend these Pride marches are braver, more heroic and far more human than any of their detractors.

And the Royalist Party, truncheons and all, can go jump in the Adriatic.

Albania has been a republic since 1944. The first “king” of Albania, Zogu, was a notorious collaborator with Mussolini. His son, Leka Zogu, lived in the racist apartheid South Africa until he could eventually crawl from under his stone when the communist regime was overthrown. In the twentieth century, Albania has suffered under two absolute monarchs – the fascist Zog, followed by the “Sacred and Unforgettable Leader of the Party and People”, Comrade Enver Hoxha. The Royalist Party sound to be a bunch of nutters – their name is enough of a warning. Their pronouncements ought to be received in this context.

Why is anything the Catholic church says being given attention in countries like Albania – or indeed the UK for that matter – where Catholics are such a small minority? It really is time it learnt to just shut up.

They claim 1.166 billion, but that is based on numbers baptised as Catholics. If you take away the lapsed Catholics and how many people the Church’s behaviour has repulsed over the last few years that number will be FAR lower than claimed, possibly a good 300 million lower.

Many Catholics might be disappoint with Church’s conduct over many issues but despite that there is a steady rise in Latin America and Africa and some parts of Asia. And ditching your membership is not that simple, it will affect things like your right to church wedding, your children’s sacraments, your funeral etc. that culturally are so important in many catholic countries. So i wouldn’t say that disaffection with RCC would affect its membership that much.

You’re assuming people feel the need to publicly renounce their membership. Most will simply drift away never to return.

Looking across the UK and Ireland many Catholics are doing just that, yet The Vatican will still include such people in their 1.166 billion figure.

Latin America isn’t that far behind either. As poverty decreases and educational standards continue to rise church attendance will similarly plummet. To put things in Biblical terms, the writing for The Vatican is already on the wall.

I think the German model where you agree to pay extra tax for RCC should be implemented worldwide. Of course you don’t have to agree to pay it but then you would automatically be excluded from RCC register. Even if you are a foreign Catholic working in Germany you would still have to pay the tax, some made the mistake of assuming that just because you are abroad you can get away with not paying. German authorities would promptly notify RCC of your refusal and as a result your local parish would cancel your membership on the spot.

Sorry I wasn’t trying to resort to Godwin’s Law, my intention was to illustrate the international power of RCC and why it still gets the attention despite being a minority in this country and not to excuse its obvious meddling.

The only abuse of human rights is the oppresion of the LGBT community in Albania. This country should not be permitted to join the EU until they recognise that LGBT folk are a part of life and society!

This is a lie, guys everything you read in the media about Albania has twisted lies and malicious propaganda in it. Do not fight homophobia with racism, you do the same mistake, and shame on whoever wrote this article that has seen it reasonable to demonise a whole country for the words of an ignorant bigot, who by the way the very next day denied he would EVER HARM AN HOMOSEXUAL. A lone voice.
And what most important I am from Albania and I can tell you that Albania is as much muslim as Britain is christian, hardly 4-5 % of the population is muslim. About 10% is christian and the rest just flow with life.

The title says that the march provoked homophobic comments, but it seems the article has provoked anti-islamic and anti-Albanian comments. Please be as ashamed as you are ignorant. Albania is a secular society with most of the population athiest. What Albanians want most is a decent standard of living. Faleminderit.

Who gives a damn what you look forward to? IGNORANT!! LGTB in Albania has the law and the suport of ALL the political spectrum, including the party of the mentioned politician and including him personaly who denied he ever meant to phissically harm gays. Get yer facts str8.

Get’s me that they always claim that gays are a threat to family, I was raised in a christian family, which became a broken home, in no small measure because of said christian family values and a healthy dose of hypocrisy, whereas the gay family I became part of has thrived and is happy, and yes we can have children who are well rounded individuals with compasion, cofidence and health. Children that we choose to have, and prepare for, rather than heterosexuals having babies they didn’t really want because they “Fell pregnant.”

This is horrible anti-Albanian propaganda. Ugly and racist.
Albania is so far the most progressive non-EU Balkans county on the issues of LGTB. Look at the statement by Mr. Berisha, Albania’s Muslim PM. He supports the Parade and condemns the statement by the Royalist Party official. He also said that same sex relationships are as old as culture and older than religions and that they should be protected by law.
We in neighbouring Balkans countries can only dream of our PMs supporting us like that. No other Balkans statesman or official has expressed as much support. The rest (neighbouring Christian countries) usually say how they are against homosexuality on moral grounds but that they need to follow the law, or something like that. Mr. Berisha, on the other hand, proved that he is an ally to LGTB causes.
Serbia has outlawed its Pride Parade, btw. But recently they got the EU candidate status. No Serbian politician has ever come near in being as supportive as Mr. Berisha.

Serbia hasn’t outlawed pride. It was cancelled last year because of the threats of violence which were massive, unfortunately, which is different to your choise of the word outlaw. It’s not illegal to have a pride march in Serbia.

Not illegal but life threatening!!! Bigots exist everywhere, and Albania is no exception. But as I said if you don’t know, ask, but don’t make racist assumptions. Not a person in history of Albania has been personally harmed because of his sexual orientation, when in every other country this I am sorry to say has been very common, and still happens, only few months ago a gay man was brutally beaten to death in the streets of Britain.

Sorry mate, but ignorance is no argument. Albania needs no financial support from Britain, let alone from the british TAXPAYER? How did you come to that conclussion? And is the basic test to be a member of european union that is supposed to have been failed here?

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